


out of the blue, into the slipstream

by copacet



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Monsters, Protectiveness, Tending Wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-11 09:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19926124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copacet/pseuds/copacet
Summary: While trying to make a little extra money on the way to Yorknew City, Gon and Killua underestimate the difficulty of a monster-hunting quest.





	out of the blue, into the slipstream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Resilur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resilur/gifts).



Gon was bleeding, and Killua knew that it was his own stupid fault.

Making a little extra money on the way to Yorknew City had seemed like a great idea at the time. Of course, if it had been up to _Killua_ , he’d have held out for an opportunity that would have netted them more than a few million jenny, nowhere near as much as they woud need to buy Greed Island, but Gon had gotten excited and agreed to the first job they’d been offered. Killua hadn’t stopped him, though, because the task should have been easy for a Hunter and an ex-assassin, and maybe even fun: just kill some creature that had been eating villagers in the forests that surrounded the city. Easy peasy.

Yeah, right. Killua was beginning to suspect that the beast had its own form of Nen. It had looked like a tigerwolf at first, a furry creature not even half the size of Mike, and Killua, disappointed, had predicted that killing it was going to be boring. So boring, in fact, that he’d stood back while Gon took the the first strike—only to watch the creature manifest a flurry of teeth and tentacles and limbs with extra claws that definitely hadn’t been there before. Its attack had broken right through Gon’s _Ten_ defenses, and then through Killua’s as well when he’d jumped in to help.

Killua had been lucky. He’d gotten away with some cuts, a twisted ankle, and a dislocated shoulder. Nothing worse than the kind of injuries his family might have inflicted on him when he was five. But Gon…

Killua pressed his crumpled shirt against the worst of Gon’s wounds. Already he could see the scarlet stain soaking through it. Killua kept his senses alert as he tried to stop the bleeding—the beast hadn’t tried to pursue them during their brief, stumbling flight through the woods, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t approaching them more stealthily now that they were distracted.

“Maybe you should go get help,” Gon suggested from where he lay on the mossy forest floor in the small clearing where they had decided to rest.

“No way,” said Killua. “Don’t be stupid, Gon. If I do that, it’ll just come back and eat you.” Besides, he hadn’t even paid enough attention when they had been running to know the way back to the village. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what direction they had been moving in relative to the position of the sun, but couldn’t. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Oh, right.” Despite his injuries, Gon smiled the same dumb smile he always did.

“I should just drag you back to the village,” Killua muttered. Maybe if the creature stayed away long enough for him to stop the bleeding, he’d be able to move Gon to the top of a hill or something high enough that he’d be able to figure out where they had ended up.

“No!” Gon tried to sit up, and Killua pushed him harshly back down. “We can’t just give up on the quest!”

Killua hadn’t actually been planning on giving up on the quest. The creature had hurt Gon, so Killua was totally going to kill it. But maybe it would be better to do it alone, without risking Gon, even though it would be way less fun. Killua had a lot of practice doing things alone, after all. 

His thoughts must have shown on his face. “We let it catch us with our guards down before,” Gon pointed out. “This time, we’ll be more prepared! I’m sure we can beat it.”

Killua was preparing to scream some sense into him when the quiet sound of a twig snapping cut across the clearing. Killua froze, tilting his head to the side and listening intently. Gon too went quiet and still. Another quiet noise—this time the crunch of grass. Killua whipped his head around, looking for the source, but the trees and brush outside the clearing were too dense. He stood up, body tense, preparing for a fight.

For a long minute, there was only silence. Killua didn’t dare allow himself to relax.

And then the beast appeared, sauntering lazily into the clearing in its tigerwolf form. Killua moved to stand between it and Gon. The creature circled them, eying them up—and then once again transformed. Now that Killua was looking for it, he could see the Nen infused into the creature’s extra claws and tentacles.

Movement in Killua’s peripheral vision caught his attention. It was Gon, struggling up into a sitting position, _again._

“Stay down, you idiot!” Killua yelled at him. “You’re only going to hurt yourself more!”

Gon didn’t listen to him. He cast his fishing rod—and the wire wrapped around several of the beast’s limbs and then pulled them together towards the forest floor, making the creature stumble as it tried to break free. 

And creating an opening for Killua to attack. Which he did.

The creature, whatever it was, was an animal like any other. It had a heart, and it needed that heart to live. More specifically, it needed the heart to be inside of its chest and not, as it was now currently doing, sitting atop Killua’s open hand. It was a _big_ heart, and it beat futilely a few more times before coming to rest. The flailing of the creature’s limbs slowed, and then stopped. Finally, its massive body fell to the ground with a thump that reverberated through the forest floor. 

“Yeah!” Gon crowed, sitting up straight. “All right! We did it!” 

He held a hand up to Killua, who high-fived it before remembering that he was supposed to be mad at Gon, and why. “Whatever,” Killua responded, then frowned at the bloodstains which were soaking through Gon’s clothes more rapidly than they had been before. “Hey, you _did_ hurt yourself again,” Killua said. “I told you!”

“I’m fine,” said Gon, but his face was pale as he lay down once more. Killua walked over to where his bloody shirt was crumpled and picked it up, examining it to find the cleanest part, then returned to press it once again against the deepest cut in Gon’s side.

“Thanks!” Gon smiled up at him. “I feel better already!”

Killua sighed. “If you die,” he warned Gon, “I’m gonna kill you myself.”


End file.
